Switch spent $68M on former Steelcase Pyramid in 2017, more is planned this year

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Switch Inc. spent $68 million at the former Steelcase Inc. pyramid as a data center last year, company officers told investors in a conference call on Monday, April 2.

The Las Vegas-based company plans to spend another $30 million to $35 million on its Pyramid Campus in 2018, Chief Financial Officer Gabe Nacht said.

The Pyramid Campus will get two additional data centers that will provide about 940,000 square feet of additional space and have up to 100 megawatts of 100 percent renewable power available to the facilities, company officials said.

Switch recently added two large customers at the Pyramid Campus, committing most of the available space at that facility, said Thomas Morton, president and general counsel.

Nacht said Switch also completed the purchase of the Pyramid building and 142 acres of property for $29.5 million during its recently completed fourth quarter. Switch began moving into the former Steelcase Corporate Design and Development Center in mid-2016.

Switch decided to locate in the pyramid-shaped building after the state legislature and Gov. Rick Snyder approved changes in late 2015 that waived the sales taxes and property taxes on equipment Switch will operate inside the facility.

The Pyramid Campus is one of four sites from which Switch operates large-scale data centers that store and process data from large customers. Switch also operates data centers in Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada and is building a data center in the Atlanta area.